The England international snubbed a new contract in north London, with Chelsea and Liverpool chasing the 24-year-old.

Oxlade-Chamberlain then ended up rejecting the Blues and joining the Reds on deadline day.

And Ornstein says Wenger was disappointed by Oxlade-Chamberlain, claiming the Frenchman didn’t hold back when the midfielder told him the news.

He tweeted: “He was stunned and bitterly disappointed when Oxlade-Chamberlain rejected the club’s final contract offer (an enormous pay rise that would have earned him close to £180,000-a-week if Arsenal made it back into the Champions League) and I’m told Wenger did not hold back when Oxlade-Chamberlain told him face-to-face that he wanted to move on.”

Arsenal are stronger than ever, according to chief executive Ivan Gazidis.

Gazidis emailed players and staff last week to claim the transfer window was a good one for the Gunners and their “improved squad” can now challenge for the Premier League title.

He also claimed keeping hold of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil was “a clear statement of our ambition”.

Gazidis sent the round-robin email at 10.18am on Friday claiming the negative reaction to the club’s efforts in the transfer window had been influenced by their “unacceptable” performance at Anfield.

Saying there had been a “lot of noise around the transfer window” he said: “Everything is coloured by results… a positive performance at Liverpool would have coloured this transfer window very differently.

“We have had a poor start to the season but have the quality to turn it around and turn around performances and compete for the title. It is time to get back to what it is all about, the football.

“The manager and players know that the performance at Anfield was not good enough and they will be focused to put that right after the international break.”